16 jul 2022 om 14:34 | Update: 35 minuten geleden
Insects can possibly experience pain and suffer as a result. Researchers write this in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences after reviewing multiple studies. The insect brain would have the same ‘brain controls’ that humans and mammals use when they feel pain.
By: Georgia EastIn the study, published last week, scientists write that insects “may exhibit physical responses and brain controls when in pain, and may also ignore them to survive.”
–
Insects show complex responses to nociception, according to the researchers. That is the ability to detect tissue damage. Nociception basically causes people and animals to have a reflex response when they experience something painful, such as the rapid withdrawal of your hand when you touch something hot.
–
“Reflexes exist in relatively simple animals like worms and do not necessarily mean that they are in pain,” lead author of the article Matilda Gibbons told the journal. Newsweek. Gibbons and her co-authors therefore decided to investigate whether insects are actually able to feel pain.
–
‘It is likely that insects feel pain’
In addition to these basic reflex reactions, organisms such as mammals also exhibit so-called brain controls in nociception, such as a nerve response that is experienced as pain. This helps the animal to respond appropriately to the situation that causes tissue damage and thus to increase its own chances of survival.
–
Another well-known response to nociception is that the body produces opiates, which allow an animal to temporarily ignore pain if this improves its chances of survival. An example of this is a human soldier who can fight on for a while despite serious injuries.
–
After studying several insects, it was discovered that the insect brain also has brain controls that dampen the reactions to pain.
–
“We can’t ask these animals about their pain, nor can we tell if they’re in pain by their facial expressions, which can be done in dogs, for example,” Gibbons explains. “But the presence of the brain controls we’ve discovered makes it very plausible that insects experience pain.”
–
Research may impact human consumption
The researchers’ findings may also have an ethical impact. “Insects are often exposed to painful substances, for example in agriculture or research, and probably also experience pain as a result,” the researchers write.
–
They also refer to the rising popularity of eating insects. “The United Nations has been advising for some time to switch from traditional livestock farming to insect farming for human consumption.”
–
But the UN did so on the assumption that insects do not suffer, the researchers write. “We need to avoid making ethical mistakes again, like with mass battery cages with chickens, but this time with insects. People need to understand that insects are able to experience pain and suffer from it.”
–
–
